Balanced slide-valve.



BALANCED SLIDE VALVE.

APPLICATION FILED PER. 12, 1906.

Patented May 16, 1911.

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W. F. GOULD.

BALANCED SLIDE VALVE.

APPLIQATION FILED I'll-113.12, 1906.

Patented May .16; 191i.

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WILLIAM F. GOULD, OF DES MOINES, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TO GOULD BALANCE VALVECOMPANY, OF KELLOGG, IOWA, A CORPORATION OF IOWA.

BALANCED SLIDE-VALVE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. GOULD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, haveinvented a certain new and useful Balanced Slide-Valve, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a balanced slide valve ofsimple, durable and inexpensive construction in which the valve covermay be quickly and easily adjusted to limit its movement and in whichthe valve may be arranged to be balanced in such manner as to operatewith a minimum of friction and wear or which may be easily and quicklyadjusted to be pressed against the valve seat by steam pressure asrequired to produce a steam tight connection, in cases where the valveseat is worn or uneven.

A further object is to provide a valve cover for a valve of this kind ofstrong and durable construction.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combinationof the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated areattained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claimsand illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows acentral, horizontal, sectional view through a portion of an enginecylinder and steam chest with a valve and valve cover therein embodyingmy invention. Fig. 2 shows a side elevation of the valve detached. Fig.8 shows a side elevation of the inner surface of the valve detached.Fig. 4 shows a transverse, sectional view of the steam chest with avalve and valve cover therein, the said valve shown in section on theline 44t of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 shows a horizontal, sectional view of aportion of a cylinder and steam chest with a valve and valve covertherein, the valve being shown on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 shows atransverse, sectional view through the steam chest illustrating the endof the valve cover in position therein, and Fig. 7 shows a sectionalview on the line 77 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I have used the referencenumeral 10 to indicate the portion of the engine cylinder shown. It isprovided with the usual exhaust port 11 and the two steam inlet portsSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 12, 1906.

Patented May 16, 1911. Serial No. 300,785.

12. Adjacent to these ports is the valve seat 13. The steam chest whichis of ordinary construction is indicated by the numeral let and a steaminduction pipe 15 enters it. The valve proper is composed of two ends ofsimilar construction, the body portion of each being indicated by thenumeral l6 and these ends are connected by the hollow bar 17 throughwhich the valve stem 18 is passed and fixed to the valve. Each end ofthe valve is of segmental shape incross section, as clearly shown inFig. 4 being somewhat less than a half circle.

In the outer face of each valve end, I have formed three grooves 19, thecentral one arranged closer to the end of the valve than to the centralportion thereof. In each of these grooves is a segmental packing bar 20,its outer face projecting beyond the face of the valve to thereby formsteam chambers on the outer surface of the valve between the packingbars. The ends of the valve are beveled at 21, so that steam may forcethe valve outwardly away from the valve seat to thereby counterbalancethe steam pressure in an opposite direction upon the portion of thevalve beyond the packing bar at the end thereof. In this way the steampressure upon so much of the valve as is outside of the ends of thepacking bars is counterbalanced. I have also provided for balancing thepressure of steam in the steam induction port that is being exerted in adirection upon the working face of the valve, as follows: The spacebetween the two inner packing bars on each end of the valve is soarranged as to be substantially equivalent to the area of the steaminduction portof the cylinder and I have formed passageways 22 in thevalve entering the space between the two inner packing bars at one endand inclined toward the working face of the valve and toward theadjacent end thereof with their inner ends opening on the working faceof the valve between the two outer packing barsi In this way, steam maybe admitted from the steam inlet port of the cylinder through thepassageways 22 to the chamber between the packing bars on the-outer faceof the valve to counterbalance the outward pressure of steam upon thevalve and by having the ports of said passageways that receives steamfrom the steam inlet ports of the cylinder arranged at points betweenthe outer packing bars, I provide for the admission of steam underpressure to the chamber between the two inner packing bars at the timeduring the stroke when the steam thus admitted will most nearlycounterbalance the valve. In this connection and assuming that it isdesired to have a greater steam pressure on the outer surface of thevalve than on the inner surface, I remove the central packing bars 20and in this way provide for adjusting the area of the steam chamber onthe outer surface of the valve. hen this is done the pressure on thevalve is applied only intermittently or when the inner ends of thepassageways are not closed by the valve seat.

If it is desired to provide a constant steam pressure upon the valve, Iremove the outer packing bars and in that way provide for a steadypressure upon part of each end of the valve and a variable pressure uponthe parts of the valve between the inner packing bars of each end.

As clearly shown in the drawings, the central packing strip isdetachable it being loosely mounted in the groove 19 prepared in thevalve to receive it. In order to detach said central strip, it is onlynecessary to remove the valve cover, whereupon said strip may be graspedand removed. Obviously when th central strip is in position, the area ofthe steam chamber is that of the space between the central and innerpacking strips and when said central strip is removed, the area of thesteam chamber is that of the space between the inner and outer packingstrips. Hence the area of the said chamber may be adjusted by removingor replacing the central packing strip. In this connection it is also tobe noted that the outer packing strip is also loosely placed in a groovein the valve. The advantage to be derived from this is that in the eventthat it became necessary to provide for a steady and uniform steampressure upon the back of the valve tending to hold the valve to itsseat more firmly and uniformly than can be done by the pressure of steambetween the packing strips on the back of the valve, then the outerpacking strip may be detached in the same manner as before describedwith regard to the middle strip and when this is done, there is aconsiderable area on the back of the valve between the middle and theback of the valve on which the steam pressure on the interior of thesteam chest continually operates. The steam pressure in the chamberbetween the packing strips is variable and is only exerted when the port22 is in communication with the inlet port of a cylinder.

Means are also provided for producing a quick acting valve as follows:Extended transversely across the space between the ends of the valve aretwo tubes 23 with passageways 2% connecting with them and extending tothe under surface of the valve near its ends, said passageways beingarranged with relation to the valve and to the steam inlet port of thecylinder that when one end of the valve commences to uncover one of theports of the cylinder, the passageway 24 at the other end of the valvewill project beyond the valve seat 13 and admit steam from the steamchest near one end of the valve to the port 12 at the other end of thevalve.

The valve cover comprises a body portion 25 segmental in cross sectionand forming less than a half circle. Its side edges rest upon the valveseat and the packing bars 20 engage its inner surface. At its ends Ihave formed the integral webs 26 to extend transversely. Said webs arevaluable in assembling the valve because they prevent the packing barsfrom moving beyond the end of the cover and thus becoming caught on theend of the cover. Said webs are also so arranged that they do not coverthe entire ends, and they permit the circulation of steam freely aroundboth surfaces of the valve cover. By thus forming the valve cover, theside edges are firmly braced against spreading. It is desirable thatslight movement be permitted for the valve cover both longitudinally andoutwardly. In some instances, it is desirable that this movement begreater than at other times. For this reason, I have provided anadjusting means comprising a bolt 27 passed through the steam chest andhaving lock nuts 28 engaging said bolt on opposite sides of the portionof the steam chest through which the bolt is passed, the inner end ofthe bolt being arranged to engage the web 26 of the valve cover and inthis way limit its movement. In the other end of the valve is a pin 30designed to stand adjacent to the opposite side of the steam chest andthus limit the movement of the cover. To

adjustably limit the movement of the cover outwardly, I have provided aset screw 31 seated in the outer portion of the steam chest and passedthrough it and adjacent to the cover 25.

In practical use and assuming the valve to be in the position shown inFig. 1 and assuming further that it is moving toward the right, it isobvious that when it moves sufiiciently to partially uncover the port 12at the left of the figure, then steam will be admitted simultaneouslyinto said port direct and also through the tubes 23 from the other sideof the steam chest. Furthermore, the steam pressure within the steaminlet port 12 at the left of the figure pressing out- 1 wardly upon thevalve is counterbalanced by the steam that passes through the passageway22 into the chamber between the packing bars on the exterior of thevalve. Steam U is admitted through this passageway 22 during the timethat the port on the inner face of the valve is passing the inductionport 12 of the cylinder and also during the time that it is beyond thevalve seat at either end and in this way the pressure upon the oppositesides of the valve is substantially balanced because at the times whenthe passageway 22 is closed, the pressure upon the under surface of thevalve caused by the action of a piston in the cylinder is not so greatas at the times when the passageway 20 is admitting steam. By removingone of the packing bars of either end, the steam pressure upon the outerface of the valve may be increased relative to that upon the inner face,so that the valve willbe more firmly held against the valve seat, itbeing desirable to do this when the valve seat is worn or uneven.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States, therefor is 1. The combination of aslide valve, three packing strips projecting from one end of the slidevalve, said strips forming the sides of a steam chamber, the centralstrip being detachable so that the said chamber will have a minimumwidth between the in ner and central strips when the central strip is inposition and a greater width between the outer and inner strips when thecentral central and end bars thereof being detachable, a valve cover toengage the packing bars and form steam chambers, and means forintroducing steam into the steam chamber between the central and innerpacking bars from the inner face of the valve.

3. A valve cover, a slide valve, three packing bars extendedtransversely across one end of the valve, to engage the cover, thecentral and outer ones of said bars being detachable, said valve formedwith a passageway communicating with the chamber between the two innerpacking bars and the under surface of the valve.

Des Moines, Iowa, February 1, 1906.

WILLIAM F. GOULD.

Witnesses:

S. F. CHRISTY, J, RALPH ORWIG.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

